Revealed: the Saddleworth School sites that were rejected
Date published: 26 November 2013
THE location of a new multi-million-pound secondary school for Saddleworth is the most hotly-debated topic in the area. Here KEN BENNETT reveals the sites Oldham Council rejected.
COST was the driving factor in the decision to dismiss plans to rebuild Saddleworth School on its existing site in Uppermill, it can be revealed.
Responding to a Freedom of Information request, Oldham Council said the Government wants to develop the most cost-effective site.
The option to temporarily move pupils while the school is rebuilt is no longer available — they would have gone to the now-demolished Counthill and Breeze Hill schools. The layout at the site makes building the new school there impossible with pupils still around.
The information is disclosed in a report listing the sites examined in the search for a location for the 1,500-pupil school.
The preferred proposal - to build the £15 million school near the former Shaws pallet works in Diggle, has been rejected by Saddleworth Parish Council and opposed by many residents.
The sites considered and rejected by the council include those identified back in 2008 under the axed Building Schools for the Future programme.
They include:
::Land at Oldham Road/Stockport Road, Lydgate — Within the Green Belt and likely to be subject to planning reviews that made it unattractive to central Government. The layout also made it difficult to develop sports facilities.
::Land at Huddersfield Road/Platting Road, Scouthead: Also in the Green Belt, with similar planning risks. The layout also made it difficult to develop sports facilities.
::Gatehead Mill/Oakdale Mill/Cribbstones/Bailey Mills, Delph: Gatehead Mill is on the market but has three commercial leases, one not expiring until 2017. Oakdale Mill - not on an adjacent site - has now been sold. Cribbstones is split into three small plots and the owner of Bailey Mills wants residential value for the site — which is in a flood plain and the Saddleworth Employment Area.
::Diggle Fields Site/land at Huddersfield/Sam Road: Partly within council ownership, with the remainder — Warth Mills — in multiple ownership and several third-party leases. The location is an important recreational space in Diggle.
::Fletchers Mill, Greenfield: In private ownership, and the owners won’t sell. A peripheral green-belt location with some contamination issues. Similar planning issues to the first two locations in the list. ::Wall Hill Road, Dobcross: A small site and protected open space. Layout issues would make it difficult to develop sports facilities. Access is poor and would have to come from the steeply-sloping Wall Hill Road. The inclusion of the former Cunnington and Cooper site - on the open market at £1.25m - makes the size acceptable, but the two parcels of land don’t adjoin.
::Churchill Playing Fields, Greenfield: Green Belt land and an important recreational area between Uppermill and Greenfield. Lost facilities here would need to be replaced, and there are significant flood-plain issues.
::Broad Meadow/Wham Lane, Denshaw: In the Green Belt, with significant planning risks. Poor access.
::Land at Dobcross New Road, Dobcross: Existing council-owned sports pitches, Newbank Garden Centre and a council-owned former tip next to the Brownhill Centre. The site is in the Green Belt and entirely within a flood plain. Acquisition of Newbank Garden Centre would probably be expensive.
::Land at Dale Lane, Delph: Adjoins Delph Cricket Club, in the Green Belt with significant planning consent risks.
::Land to the North and South of Pingle Lane (Brookland Lodge/Swan Meadow): In the Green Belt. Both sites have poor access along narrow roads.
The process to identify sites began in July, 2008, when Saddleworth was in the running for funding from the Building Schools for the Future programme.
Officers were asked to identify possible sites in terms of planning considerations, green belt issues and feasibility, engineering and costs.
Last year, when it became clear Saddleworth was back in the running for money from the Priority Schools programme, the list was revisited and some new ones added.
